November 26, 2024
AAP September 2024 StatShot Report: Overall Publishing Industry Up 2.4% for Month of September, and Up 7.0% Year-To-Date
Trade (Consumer Book) Revenues Flat for Month of September, and Up 6.8% Year-to-Date
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for September 2024 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Religious Presses, Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing.
Total revenues across all categories for September 2024 were up 2.4% as compared to September 2023, coming in at $1.5 billion. Year-to-date revenues were up 7.0%, at $10.8 billion for the first nine months of the year.
Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues
September
Trade (Consumer Books) revenues were roughly flat in September, down 0.9% at $911.5 million.
In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of September, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were up 3.2%, coming in at $400.1 million; Paperbacks were down 12.6%, with $263.2 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 22.1% to $9.1 million; and Special Bindings were down 1.0%, with $27.2 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were up 4.0% for the month as compared to September 2023 for a total of $90.5 million, and the Digital Audio format was up 28.1% for September, coming in at $89.7 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 51.1% coming in at $800 thousand.
Year-to-date
Year-to-date Trade revenues were up 6.8% at $6.8 billion for the first nine months of the year. Hardback revenues were up 7.2%, coming in at $2.4 billion; Paperbacks were up 3.5%, with $2.4 billion in revenue; Mass Market was down 18.5% to $91.0 million; and Special Bindings were up 4.7%, with $160.2 million in revenue.
eBook revenues were up 3.6% as compared to the first nine months of 2023 for a total of $777.9 million. The Digital Audio format was up 26.9%, coming in at $796.9 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 33.0% coming in at $6.6 million.
Religious Presses
September 2024
Religious press revenues were up 1.8% in September, coming in at $79.1 million. Hardback revenues were down 1.3% to $50.2 million in revenue, while Paperback revenues were up 8.7% to $15.0 million. eBook revenues were down 4.2% coming in at $3.9 million, and Digital Audio revenues were up 9.4% at $3.9 million.
Year-to-date
On a year-to-date basis, religious press revenues were up 18.4%, at $642.8 million. Hardback revenues were up 24.9% at $389.9 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were up 9.9% to $125.8 million, eBook revenues were up 1.8% at $39.7 million, and Digital Audio revenues were up 16.7% at $39.0 million.
Higher Education
During September 2024 revenues from Higher Education Course Materials were $371.0 million, up 7.1% compared with September 2023. Year-to-date Higher Education Course Materials revenues were $2.1 billion, up 5.3% compared to the first nine months of 2023.
Professional Books
Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were up 1.1% during the month, coming in at $38.9 million. Year-to-date Professional Books revenues were $347.0 million, down 0.7% as compared to the first nine months of 2023.
AAP’s StatShot
AAP StatShot reports the monthly and yearly net revenue of publishing houses from U.S. sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, and other channels. StatShot draws revenue data from approximately 1,280 publishers, although participation may fluctuate slightly from report to report.
StatShot reports are designed to give ongoing revenue snapshots across publishing sectors using the best data currently available. The reports reflect participants’ most recent reported revenue for current and previous periods, enabling readers to compare revenue on both a month-to-month and year-to-year basis within a given StatShot report.
Monthly and yearly StatShot reports may not align completely across reporting periods, because: a) The pool of StatShot participants may fluctuate from report to report; and b) Like any business, it is common accounting practice for publishing houses to update and restate their previously reported revenue data. If, for example, a business learns that its revenues were greater in a given year than its reports first indicated, it will restate the revenues in subsequent reports to AAP, permitting AAP in turn to report information that is more accurate than previously reported.